Applications Of Some New Techniques To Detect Groundwater Contamination At Mine Tailings Dams

We have recently applied electrical and electromagnetic methods to two<br>environmental problems at minesites: firstly, to an acid mine drainage problem at the<br>tailings dam of a disused pyrite mine at Brukunga, South Australia, and secondly, to<br>the detection of any seepage from a tailings dam at the operating Ranger minesite,<br>Northern Territory, Australia. Using these examples, we stress the importance of the<br>use of combined methods for both measurement and interpretation of data.<br>At the first minesite, we used a combination of direct current (DC), transient<br>electromagnetic (TEM) and self-potential (SP) surveys to locate the source of<br>groundwater entering the tailings dam and to map the depth to water-table over the site.<br>At the second minesite, more extensive experimental surveys have been made with<br>these and the induced polarization (IP) method. The surveys include the use of a 2D<br>array of electrodes and measurements with a multichannel data acquisition system.<br>Results of a previous airborne electromagnetic survey have been interpreted using<br>newly-developed conductivity-depth imaging software.